On Friday, the Armenian National Security Service (NSS) reported that two minors from Syunik, born in 2007 and 2008, got lost and ended up in Azerbaijani territory. Azerbaijan has not yet issued any official statement.
The Armenian authorities have noted that ‘all necessary measures are being taken to determine the whereabouts of the citizens and ensure their safe return’.
The incident reportedly took place at around 01:20 on Friday in the area adjacent to the border village of Aravus.
While the NSS did not provide any details as to how the minors got lost, Armenian media reported that the two went to look for a lost horse.
‘The children got on the horses to go after their horse, to get it from under the [military] posts across. They went and were caught’, Argam Hovsepyan, a member of the Tegh community council, told RFE/RL.
Media articles also noted that it was unclear to the residents of the border community whether the boys were kidnapped or ended up on the Azerbaijani side accidentally, with RFE/RL reporting that Azerbaijani military positions ‘are just metres away from the pastures’.
Azerbaijani pro-government Oxu.az cited reports that the two minors ‘were grazing livestock that may have crossed into Azerbaijani territory’.
Similar incidents took place in 2024.
In March of that year, Armenia handed over an Azerbaijani soldier, Ruslan Panahov, who was captured in Tegh, within Armenia’s borders, in late February 2024, as a ‘gesture of goodwill’.
The following month saw another incident, this time with an Armenian shepherd who ended up in Azerbaijani territory.
According to the Armenian NSS, the shepherd ‘found himself in the territory of Azerbaijan while searching for a lost herd’ in the Nerkin Khndzoresk section of the Armenia–Azerbaijan state border in the Syunik region.
Following this, a shootout occurred between the border guards, as a result of which an Azerbaijani soldier was wounded.
The Armenian side expressed readiness to conduct a joint investigation with the Azerbaijani side and notified the launch of its investigations.
The NSS reported that the Azerbaijani side had returned the lost herd, and the shepherd was also reported to be in Armenia.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
